Jake Daniels be first UK male footballer to e out as gay sce 1990 | Football | The Guardian

Contents:

• BLACKPOOL'S JAKE DANIELS BE UK'S FIRST ACTIVE OPENLY GAY MALE FOOTBALLER 32 YEARS
• BLACKPOOL'S JAKE DANIELS BE UK'S FIRST ACTIVE OPENLY GAY MALE FOOTBALLER 32 YEARS
• HOW HOMOPHOBIA CLAIMED THE LIFE AND REER OF JT FASHANU, THE WORLD’S FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER
• HOW JT FASHANU WAS CRICISED BY HIS BROTHER JOHN AFTER G OUT AS GAY 1990
• JAKE DANIELS BE FIRST UK MALE FOOTBALLER TO E OUT AS GAY SCE 1990

BLACKPOOL'S JAKE DANIELS BE UK'S FIRST ACTIVE OPENLY GAY MALE FOOTBALLER 32 YEARS

ESPNMay 16, 2022, 12:35 PM ETBlackpool's Jake Daniels has bee the first active openly gay profsnal male footballer the UK sce 1990 after g out publicly and makg an announcement on 17-year-old recently signed a profsnal ntract wh the Champnship team and ma his club but earlier this month. Speakg to Sky Sports, Daniels said he hop he n bee a role mol for others and hop there will be a gay Premier League footballer the 17 LGBTQ+ athlet share their g out journeys"Of urse I am aware that there will be a reactn to this and some of will be homophobic, maybe a stadium and on social media, " he said.

✊?️‍? — FIFPRO (@FIFPRO) May 16, 2022 Jt Fashanu beme the first openly gay male Brish footballer 1990 but took his own life at the age of 37, eight years after g out publicly to the Fashanu, there has not been a sgle male player to publicly e out durg his playg reer. "Daniels be the latt male athlete to e out after Alai Uned's Josh Cavallo beme the only openly gay top-flight male profsnal player world football at the time last June, Las Vegas Rairs fensive end Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player to e out as gay. "I n't really put a date on , but I was probably five or six years old when I knew I was gay.

"At that age you don't really thk that football and beg gay don't mix. Thirty years ago, on 22 October 1990, Jt Fashanu beme the world’s first profsnal footballer to e out as gay. To this day, he’s the UK’s only top-tier male football star to clare his homosexualy while playg this untry.

BLACKPOOL'S JAKE DANIELS BE UK'S FIRST ACTIVE OPENLY GAY MALE FOOTBALLER 32 YEARS

At the time, he said he knew 12 other Premier League footballers who were gay or bisexual.

HOW HOMOPHOBIA CLAIMED THE LIFE AND REER OF JT FASHANU, THE WORLD’S FIRST OPENLY GAY FOOTBALLER

Jt me out The Sun newspaper, unr the headle “£1m soccer star: I am GAY”. “John Fashanu: My gay brother is an outst” screamed the headle.

However, he ntued to disrpect his brother’s memory when he claimed a 2012 terview wh talkSPORT rad that his brother was not gay but merely a fame-obssed attentn-seeker.

HOW JT FASHANU WAS CRICISED BY HIS BROTHER JOHN AFTER G OUT AS GAY 1990

Homosexuals are the greatt queer-bashers around. Jt later told The Voice: “Those who say that you n’t be black, gay and proud of are ignorant. Jt faced a lot of cricism for choosg to e out the right-wg, homophobic Sun newspaper, which many black people also regard as racist.

By g out The Sun, he hoped s reporters would cease houndg him: “I genuely thought that if I me out the worst newspapers and remaed strong and posive about beg gay, there would be nothg more that they uld say.

Some people say the prs knew Jt was gay and were planng to out him.

JAKE DANIELS BE FIRST UK MALE FOOTBALLER TO E OUT AS GAY SCE 1990

However, the book, Stonewall 25, Jt claimed that he me out bee he was distrsed by the tragedy of a 17-year-old gay iend who had been forced out of his fay home by homophobic parents, and who subsequently mted suici: “I felt angry at the waste of his life and guilty bee I had not been able to help him.

He got homophobic abe om fans, and few clubs were willg to sign him given his dimishg goal-srg abili. Jt was closeted back then and found immensely difficult to be gay the macho, straight world of football — not to mentn the strs of livg a secret gay life while unr the glare of the media spotlight.

But was anti-gay prejudice that ultimately dragged him down.